When head coach Matt Green took over the football program in 2012 he brought a lot of “new” things to campus including spring football. Spring ball is a period of about a month in late April/early May when the football team practices. It ends with an intrasquad scrimmage known as the spring game.

“For me, spring football is very valuable,” Green said. “We get to have 17 workouts plus we get to have a spring football game.”

Every high school team in Texas has the option to either participate in spring ball or take extra weeks of 2-a-days in the summer. With the original coach staff, the Leopards had extra weeks of 2-a-days, but when the new staff took over that was changed.

“The advantage in my opinion of these workouts is that we get to have basically, like I said 17 workouts plus the spring game, that’s 18 total workouts,” Green said. “And we give up 10 workouts in the fall. So we gain 8 practices.”

It is an advantage to players, because it gives them plenty of time before the fall to find their way on the field and be noticed by the coaches.

“Spring ball lets the coaches feel out the players before the season and notice which players fit where and determine each player’s strengths and weaknesses,” sophomore Dakota Michaels said. “It is also beneficial to get some early football in to understand schemes.”

The benefits of spring ball for the Leopards go beyond extra practice time as injury concerns are another reason that Green likes spring ball.

“We don’t want anybody to get hurt, we hope nobody will get hurt, but if somebody does get injured then we have the ability to give them all summer to heal up for football season,” Green said.

Spring ball also gives the players time to bond as a team and develop chemistry before the season.

“I think [spring ball] is beneficial because it helps players that are transitioning to new positions learn the playbook before the season is near,” junior Mac Metzler said. “It helps bring the team closer and grow team chemistry for the new roster of the upcoming season.”

The first practice of the spring is April 24, and the spring game is May 23.